When Juliska Casiano and her husband Luis Antonio Perez evacuated a burning ferry off Puerto Rico in August, they were forced to leave behind two beloved fellow travellers: their dogs Blackie and Goku.
Now, as they sue Mexico's Baja Ferries and US affiliate America Cruise Ferries over the casualty on the 950-passenger Caribbean Fantasy (built 1989), they are seeking $1m each over the death of Goku.
Pain and suffering allegedly caused by the death of the four-year-old English Bulldog are the largest line items in a nearly $4.32m lawsuit filed by Casiano, Perez and two other passengers in the US federal court in Puerto Rico.
A lawyer for American Cruise Ferries declined to comment for this story.
512 humans evacuated
As TradeWinds has reported extensively, 512 passengers were evacuated from the Panamanian-flag ship as it approached its destination of San Juan.
But two of their furry friends were not so lucky: in addition to Goku, the body of a chihuahua named Lino was also recovered from the ship.
According to the lawsuit filed by San Juan Hector Perez-Rivera, Blackie and Goku were in a compartment of the ship for pets when passengers were ordered to evacuate.
Casiano asked about the pets during the evacuation and was allegedly told different stories by crew, including one claim that the pets were already ashore.
Three -day search
Once ashore, after she was treated by medical personnel, she and Perez began a frantic search for their dogs that lasted three days.
At first, Casiano noticed there were only kennels for three pets in the area where passengers had gathered onshore, though she had seen seven pets on the vessel.
Eventually, the Coast Guard called her husband to inform them that they had found Blackie alive. But they knew nothing of Goku, according to legal documents.
After checking another location where Casiano was told her pet might be held, the couple turned to technology. They followed the signal of the GPS tracking device on the dog's collar.
That led them to a Coast Guard facility not far from the site where the Caribbean Fantasy had been towed. But there, no one knew about the dog's whereabouts.
</p><p >The following day, Casiano's search continued. After an unsuccessful trip to San Juan's animal shelter, she saw on a television news report that several dogs had been seen running on the deck of the vessel without access to food or water.</p><p >"I don't know how to express how desperate she became," Perez-Rivera told TradeWinds.</p><p >After a rescue effort, she was informed that Goku had been found dead.</p><p >Casiano and Perez, a young couple with no children, cherished their dog and were devastated by news of its death, Perez-Rivera said.</p><p >"Actually, they are family," the lawyer said of the couple's relationship with their dogs.</p><p ><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lZEEq3nSIk4" width="560"/></p></field><field name="featureindicator"><value>relevant</value></field><tag identifier="tag:regions@tradewindsnews.com,2012:Puerto_Rico" relevance="0.98"/><tag identifier="tag:regions@tradewindsnews.com,2012:Mexico" relevance="0.99"/><tag identifier="tag:regions@tradewindsnews.com,2012:USA" relevance="1.0"/><tag identifier="tag:regions@tradewindsnews.com,2012:Caribbean" relevance="0.85"/><tag identifier="tag:regions@tradewindsnews.com,2012:San_Juan" relevance="0.95"/><tag identifier="tag:organization@tradewindsnews.com,2015:Baja_Ferries" relevance="0.89"/><tag identifier="tag:organization@tradewindsnews.com,2015:America_Cruise_Ferries" relevance="0.87"/><tag identifier="tag:person@tradewindsnews.com,2015:Juliska_Casiano" relevance="0.96"/><tag identifier="tag:person@tradewindsnews.com,2015:Luis_Antonio_Perez" relevance="0.99"/><tag identifier="tag:person@tradewindsnews.com,2015:San_Juan_Hector_Perez-Rivera" relevance="0.88"/><tag identifier="tag:vessel@tradewindsnews.com,2015:Caribbean_Fantasy" relevance="1.0"/></content></escenic></p></div>
